(1) Get the point of the bill red - hot, put it on the ground to cool, try it with a saw file. If you cannot cut it, it is Mushet's steel. Treat as follows:- Get bright red, work out a little at a time. On no account hammer when getting cool, or they get full of little cracks. Better keep heating as often as they lose their red appearance. The whole secret in working this steel lies in not hitting it unless red - hot. After you have got them to the right shape, which should be about 1/8 in. thick at 1 in. from the end, get them bright red, and put them carefully on the ground to cool. This is all the tempering the steel requires. When cold, grind to an edge. If common cast'steel, you do not want to know anything about secrets or chemicals. All you have to do is to work it out at a dull red heat, hit it flatways when cooling as much as you like, but not edgeways; tile or grind to an edge, get red - hot f in. from the end, dip or cool in water with the chill taken off, grind bright, hold over a piece of red - hot iron till of a blue colour. (2) Salt, 1/2 cup; saltpetre, 1/2 oz.; pulverized alum, 1 teaspoonful; soft water, 1 gal.

Do not heat above a cherry - red, nor draw to temper. (3) Put the body of the tool in the fire, leaving the 2 thin ends uncovered till the middle is red - hot. As soon as the middle is red - hot, pull back, and let the thin end just get a dull red heat. It must now be hammered edgeways first, and flatways last of all. It is best to hammer it on the fiat part of the anvil, as drawing steel on the edge of the anvil, although a great deal quicker, makes it short in the grain, and always causes the tool to break in the thinnest place. Serve the other end the same, only repeat as soon as it loses its dull red colour. The lighter the blows in working steel, the tougher it is. The point should be quite as thin as a fitter's chipping chisel, only a little longer, then they will not require doing up so often. When the ends are drawn out, the middle will have lost its red heat. The ends can now be filed a little. To temper them, heat them in the flame of the fire, using great care. When a very dull red heat, cool in rain - water, with the chill taken off, about f in. from the end, and let down to a blue; if it should be too brittle, a little lower. Serve the other end the same. Cool all over. Grind the edge rather blunt, and for the first few blows hit as lightly as possible.

A little soapsuds or oil could be poured on the water, but water is the best. The secret is in working it at as low heat as possible, only keep on repeating very often, and to hit it edgeways as little as possible, but flatways as much as you like.